Australian airlines will continue to serve alcohol to passengers despite a series of drunken incidents resulting in planes being diverted. Anti-alcohol organisation Drug Arm Australasia has declared its support for banning booze on planes, and even in airports.

Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard says she accepts it is a matter of time before same-sex marriage is legal in Australia. Ms Gillard has given a rare interview to Channel Nine ahead of the release of a memoir she has written about her time in the top job.

A survey released Monday from the Pew Research Center indicates American support for same-sex marriage could be leveling off after several years of dramatic growth in acceptance of equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Support for the Coalition has risen to a five-month high as voters show their approval of Tony Abbott's handling of national security matters, with a six-point leap in the Prime Minister's personal satisfaction rating taking it to the highest level since November.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's sister, Christine Forster, has launched a bid to be elected to the NSW upper house at next year's state poll. Councillor Forster, who is on the City of Sydney Council, has nominated to be preselected to a winnable position on the Liberal Party's upper-house ticket.

The indefinite detention of asylum seeker children in immigration detention centres has been labelled inappropriate and hard-hearted by the outgoing administrator of Christmas and Cocos islands, John Stanhope.

Braddon MP Brett Whiteley has backed the controversial comments by PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie calling for a ban on the wearing of the Islamic burqa. Mr Whiteley is the second Liberal after Senator Cory Bernardi to support a ban.